MUSIC EMPOWERS GLOBAL YOUTH – MEGY INFO LETTER

Dear Reader, As you might know from earlier communications, the IMC has coordinated, over the past 10 month, the project Music Empowers Global Youth (MEGY). The project was launched in September 2011 and received funding through the ‘Youth in Action’ Programme of the EU. With this info letter we would like to inform you about the most important results of the project. Enjoy reading! Silja Fischer, Ruth Jakobi IMC Secretary General MEGY project coordinator

The central aim of the MEGY project is to enhance active youth participation in all aspects of the music sector worldwide, and through this to empower young people to take on a more active role in shaping their future as citizens of Europe and the world.

MEGY PARTNERS

International Music Council (project coordinator)

European Music Council (EMC)

European Union of Music Competitions for Youth (EMCY)

Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI)

Estonian National Folklore Council / CIOFF® (ENFC)

Estonian Choral Association / Eesti Kooriühing (ECA)

Music Council of Australia (MCA) / Australian Youth Music Council (AYMC)

Argentine Music Council (CAMU)

China Conservatory of Music (CCM)

Spiritus Mundi (SM)

International Yehudi Menuhin Competition

Borusan Kocabiyik Vakfi Kultur Sanat Iktisadi Isletmesi (Borusan Foundation)

MEGY EVENTS

Capacity-building workshop and meetings for the Members of the IMC youth group as well as other young IMC youth group people involved with music were invited to a capacity building workshop in January 2012. Professionals from other international networks and professionals in the field of communication shared their expertise. Moreover, the workshop provided time and space for internal discussions about structures and aims for the IMC youth group. The 4th IMC World Forum on Music (September 2011) and the European Forum on Music (April 2012) offered further opportunities for members of the IMC youth group to define future activities.

Culture and youth policy workshop Participants of the workshop were offered the opportunity to attend two different sets of meetings at UNESCO as observers: • a formal meeting of the Intergovernmental Committee on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, including an exchange session between State Parties to the 2005 Convention and civil society • International NGO Day at UNESCO Introductions to UNESCO documents e.g. the UNESCO

Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions as well as interviews and personal meetings with other NGO representatives and UNESCO staff members made the formal meetings a lively experience for the participants.

Workshadowing 4 young people from Turkey, Sweden, Brazil and have been selected to participate in the work-shadowing

activity proposed by the MEGY project. During two days, they got an insight in working methods of the hosting organisations IMC, EMC and EMCY.

MEGY AS PART OF OTHER EVENTS

Youth-led sessions at the 4th IMC World Young people were actively involved in shaping the programme of Forum on Music entitled Music and Social the 4th IMC World Forum on Music and organised several Change in , Estonia interactive sessions: Hip Hop as a Tool for social change, co-organised by MEGY partner Music Council of Australia Wade in the Water – Singing for Change, co-organised by MEGY partner Jeunesses Musicales International (JMI) Making Noise for the Manifesto for Youth & Music in Europe, co- organised by the Working Group Youth of MEGY partner European Music Council Music on Troubled Grounds, co-organised by MEGY partner Spiritus

Mundi Youth-led session at the 2nd European Bridging generations in employment: how to get young feet Forum on Music Transcending Boundaries on the music working ladder? – Building Bridges in , Turkey Taking into account various aspects of the music sector, this session attempts to discover successful approaches for young people taking their first steps in the professional world. This session is aimed at: • young music professionals facing their first career steps • music organisations dealing with young people • music organisations wanting to rejuvenate their staff

Youth chamber orchestra at the The 2012 edition of the International Yehudi Menuhin Competition International Yehudi Menuhin competition was held in the Central Conservatory of China in Beijing Competition from 6 to 15 April. As part of the MEGY project, a youth chamber orchestra was created bringing together pupils from the Menuhin School in the United Kingdom and pupils of the Middle School of the Central Conservatory in Beijing. The musicians (around twenty in total, aged roughly 12-18) spent five days rehearsing together. They performed at the Forbidden City Concert Hall and accompanied the junior finalists in their renditions of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. At the end of the first day, a special exchange session helped break the ice between the musicians and get them to reflect upon the cultural exchange that was taking place. This session was followed by many informal gatherings throughout the event.

IMC YOUTH

The International Music Council encouraged its members to include young representatives in their delegation to the 3rd IMC World Forum on Music, which took place in October 2009 in Tunisia. As a result of this appeal, a group of about 30 young delegates came to Tunis. Since then, this group of young people has been extremely enthusiastic and productive. Within the frame of the MEGY project the group was offered time and space for physical meetings in order to define a clear structure and to set priorities. The group is now called IMC Youth. It represents youth from within the network of the International Music Council (IMC). IMC Youth envisions a world where youth

contribute to drive freedom, access, development, recognition and innovation in regards to music. For more information, please visit http://www.imc-cim.org/imcyouth

PUBLICATIONS Websites www.imc-cim.org/megy www.imc-cim.org/imcyouth The Manifesto for Youth and Music was translated and reprinted in: German French Italian Spanish English

Report An IMC report including all MEGY activities has been printed MEGY Reader The MEGY reader compiles information material on youth and culture policies Promotion and documentation Posters, flyers, programme booklets material